Experiments in Generosity
by Soliloqueen
Summary: Kate and Rick play a little game. I accidentally deleted the post with all of your reviews! There were a few suggesting a sequel, if you give me a good idea, I'll write one.


**So I came up with this idea when I was bored on the weekend... Ive fixed the mistakes I made and this is a repost. So...Onwards!**

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><p>Beckett trudged into the precinct early one morning. She hadn't had much sleep the night before so she was really tired, and had a god-awful headache. She and Castle had stayed up late into the night talking on the phone. She had slept right through her alarm and, as a result, woken up late. She had run around the house trying to get ready in time and, in her confused rush out of the house, had forgotten to grab the pain killers. She was really regretting that now. She sat at her desk and turned towards the paperwork mountain, just the thought of it making her headache worse. As she turned, she noticed a cup of coffee sitting atop the mountain, and next to it, some panadol. She reached out hungrily, and tossed down the panadol, washing it down with a swig of coffee. Underneath the coffee, she found a small envelope. Inside there was a note and a business card. She read the note first. If the coffee wasn't a dead giveaway, the writing was.<p>

_Good Morning, Detective,_

_If your headache is as bad as mine is, I know you'll be grateful for the panadol, because you most likely forgot to grab some on your way out of your house (Am I right?). I probably won't be in until later today because I have meetings and other writer-ish stuff I have to do._

_Don't have too much fun without me!_

The note was unsigned, but it didn't need to be signed, she knew who it was from. She looked at the card in her other hand. It wasn't a business card, as she had originally thought, but a message card. It was bright teal in colour, and had a floral print running down one side. One side of the card read, Experiments in Generosity, Wake up New York! And the other side said: someone has reached out to you in an act of kindness. Now it's your turn! Leave this card where you perform an act of kindness and share the care with the rest of New York! She smiled and shook her head as she placed it in her back pocket.

She spent the rest of the morning deliberating what act of kindness she could return to Castle, before he turned up. When he did, it was with the usual bounce in his step. He greeted her cheerily.

"Good Afternoon, Detective." He smiled at her

"Good Afternoon, Castle." She smiled back. He sat down in his usual chair and leant his elbow on the side of her desk. Placing his chin on his fist, he said,

"No cases yet?"

"Nope Just Paper-"She began to say, before she was cut off by Esposito shouting across the bullpen,

"Hey, Beckett! Oh hey Castle! We got a fresh one."

"Spoke too soon." She smiled. Esposito relayed the address and they made their way down to the car park. As they approached the vehicle, Beckett ran ahead. She unlocked the car and placed the Kindness card onto the driver's seat, then hopped into the passenger seat. Castle approached and his eyes lit up at the sight of her in the passenger seat.

"Does this mean I'm driving?" He said. He had an adorably huge smile on his face.

God, if I knew he was going to smile like that, and then I would have let him drive a lot sooner, she thought.

He picked up the card off the seat, and started up the car.

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><p>It was nearly 10pm and the precinct was quiet. Beckett sat at her desk mulling over the victim's financials. She was running low on skittles and Castle had still yet to return from the coffee run he'd been on for the past half hour. The elevator dinged and Beckett swivelled around expectantly in her chair. As promised, Castle had returned with the coffee. He reached her desk, and plopped down her coffee. He then reached into his plastic shopping bag and pulled out a bag of skittles. Taped to it was the card again. Hs laughed and topped up the skittles bowl.<p>

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><p>A week later, Beckett was still yet to figure out a way to return the card to Castle. She didn't want to do anything cliché, so it was proving to be very difficult. She was sitting at her desk when Alexis walked into the room, though she didn't know it yet, she was the answer to Beckett's dilemma. Alexis' face was awash with worry. This sent Beckett into cop mode and she got up from her desk. Alexis spotted her and she came running over to meet Beckett.<p>

"Kate, I need your help." She said.

"What is it Alexis?" Beckett asked.

"I have prom this weekend and I still don't have a dress." She said. Beckett almost let out a relieved laugh, but thought better of it. She had been in her situation once, and she could remember how anxious she had felt.

"Do you wanna go dress shopping then? I'm off in about ten minutes." Beckett offered. It had been a while since she'd been shopping, and even longer since she had spent time with Alexis.

"Thank you so much!" Alexis replied. She sat down in Castle's chair to wait out the next ten minutes. Beckett finished off her paperwork, and then packed up her things. They left the precinct and hopped in the car.

"Dad leant me his credit card for the dress, but I don't know where to go and none of my friends want to go shopping with me." Alexis stressed.

"That's no problem, I know just the place." Beckett said. The spent the rest of the ride in relative silence until they pulled up at a small shop. It had a modest, but classy front and the windows held signs screaming SALE!

They walked in and the bell on the door tinkled, signifying their entry. On all the walls of the shop, hung dresses, all of them one of a kind. The dresses were colour coded by wall, the reds on the back wall, blacks and greys on a diagonal wall near the change rooms, blues and purples on the left wall and so on. They made their way over to the greens and blues to find a dress. Alexis' hair colour made finding a dress hard, but that didn't mean that it wasn't fun. They had heaps of fun trying on outrageous dresses, Beckett joining in part way through. They didn't even realize the time until it started getting dark and the manager told them they had half an hour before the shop closed. They raced around the shop putting all the dresses back. As they did, Beckett spied a dress in at the end of a rack. She pulled it out and immediately knew it was the right one.

"Alexis, I think I have the one." She called out.

She brought it over to the change rooms and passed it over the door. Alexis stepped out a minute later, and Beckett's jaw dropped.

Alexis stood in the doorway of the changing room, in a floor-length mauve gown. The cut at the back was modest, but still low enough to be stylish. And the front was a strapless heart cut. She was stunning and even Alexis knew it.

"This is perfect. This is the one," Beckett said.

"It is, isn't it?" Alexis agreed. She slipped back into the change room and slipped the dress off. They paid for it, and then left the shop. Beckett offered to drive Alexis home and she gladly agreed. They chatted the whole way back to the loft. When they arrived Beckett said,

"Do you mind if I come up? Your dad's been texting me for the last few hours." Beckett asked

"Sure no problem." Alexis smiled.

They made their way up to the loft chatting and laughing like crazy. They walked into the loft, and Alexis zipped up the stairs to put away her dress. Beckett walked through the loft, to the study, where she found Castle, typing on his laptop. He looked up when he heard the door open and a surprised grin spread across his face.

"I was about to call you. You had me worried." He said.

"Well your worry was unwarranted. I was shopping with Alexis; she needed help finding a prom dress." Kate replied.

"Really? Thank you so much. It's had her worried for days now and I didn't know what to do." He said, as his smile grew bigger. Got up from his chair and walked around the desk to face her. He walked closer and closer to her until they were standing only inches apart. He reached behind her and reached into her back pocket where he removed the Kindness card.

"I believe it's my turn now." He smiled.

"Whatever you say, Castle" she said, as she turned to leave.

"Bye, Lex." She called up the stairs. She had adopted the girl's nickname during the afternoon they had spent together, but she hadn't meant to use it in front of Rick.

"Bye, Kate." Alexis called back down. As she turned to shut the door, she called back,

"See you tomorrow, Rick." And flashed him an unintentionally dazzling smile.

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><p>The next day, they closed the case. Kate and Rick sat at Kate's desk, having a skittle catching competition, seeing who could catch the most in their mouth. Suddenly Rick stopped, and turned to Kate.<p>

"Do you want to come over for dinner tonight?" He asked her.

"Dinner? I guess. Why?" She said

"I dunno. Just cuz I feel like it I guess."

"Sure, that sounds nice." She agreed.

"Great. I'll help you pack up." He offered.

They reached the loft and Rick and Kate hopped out. They made their way upstairs and when they reached the loft, simultaneously dumped their shoes and jackets. Rick headed into the kitchen to get started on dinner and Kate seat down on the couch, having selected a book from the vast range of his bookshelf. She sat in the quiet for a while, but she started to feel a little uncomfortable. She really wanted to help Rick make dinner because she felt a little pathetic on the couch, relaxing, while he was cooking dinner. So she hopped up to join him.

"Hey. Can I help?" She asked.

"Sure, do you want to chop these veggies?" He said and she gratefully took over. He headed over to the IPod dock in the corner and started playing some music. They soon lost themselves in crazy singing and silly dances, so much so that they almost forgot the dinner. They raced back over to the kitchen (they had somehow danced themselves all the way to the lounge room). Thankfully they hadn't left the food for too long, and it was still in relatively edible condition.

"Go wait at the table." He commanded.

"Okay." She walked over to the table, and sat down on the one side of the table. Alexis was at a friend's so they had only set the table for two. Rick waltzed through the doorway, into the room, with the plates and drinks balanced perfectly. Kate smirked, she used to waitress, and she could spot the technique anywhere.

"Don't judge." He pouted, "I was short on money in High school."

"I'm not judging you." She said.

"Really? Cuz I'm pretty sure your face was." He joked.

"Cute." She said sarcastically.

He placed her food in front of her and set his down in the seat across from hers. She waited for him to sit down before she started her food. She ate her food slowly, they were having spaghetti, and as starving as she was, she had a bad track record with spaghetti, and she didn't fancy making a fool of herself, by dropping it down her front inferno of Castle. But alas, she did anyway. A piece fell off her fork and landed in her lap. Castle laughed and as he did, dropped pasta into his lap as well. Beckett laughed back at him and reached over to grab her serviette. The serviette felt hard, so she opened it and found the Card tucked inside it. She smiled at him and tucked it in her back pocket again.

They finished their dinner in silence, and after a movie, she knew she needed to leave. She didn't want a replica of that other night.

"I gotta go home, Rick." She said.

"Yeah, you probably should." He said. But neither made a movement. They were too comfortable where they were, cuddled up together under a blanket.

"Come on." Rick said. He turned around and pulled her up by the hands, "I don't want you to blame me for keeping you up late on a work night again." He smiled.

"Yeah, but it would be true." She said. She pulled on her shoes, and Rick slipped he coat around her shoulders. When she turned around, he was close to her. Far, far too close to her than she had expected. She got over the shock of his closeness, and her eyes finally made it up to his face. His eyes portrayed barely hidden desire, and she was almost sure hers did too. She leaned in closer and their lips connected. The kiss was long and passionate. They lost track of time in their own little world. Beckett was jolted back to reality when she heard herself moan. But she really couldn't care. She was kissing Castle! She reached into her back pocket and pulled out the card. She carded one hand through his hair and the other slipped the card into his front pocket. She broke the kiss first, and leaning her forehead against his.

"Your turn."


End file.
